Editor -- The Senate immigration bill has been defended by promoters of virtual unlimited immigration, both from the left and the right. No wonder Americans are very angry at our elite.

If another amnesty is granted, millions of naturalized citizens could become potential voters. Considering how close recent presidential elections were, even if most naturalized citizens do not vote, is there a chance that our immigration laws will be seriously enforced?

Newcomers will consume energy and need jobs, education, health care, welfare and many other costly services. Due to their low incomes, any taxes that most newcomers will pay could not offset even the cost of educating their children, which averages $7,500 per child per year. For the same reason, most immigrants granted amnesty and their relatives could receive an earned-income tax credit of up to $4,400 a year.

The United States has already exported high-tech and manufacturing jobs to Latin America and Asia, and imported workers from those regions. No Americans concerned about the future of American children should support this Senate amnesty bill, which would result in open borders for professionals and low-skilled workers.

YEH LING-LING

Executive Director

Diversity Alliance for

a Sustainable America

Oakland

We need high gas taxes

Editor -- Your editorial got it wrong -- We should want high gas prices (Grandstanding on gas prices," May 28). Just think, where else can we lower the trade imbalance, reduce the federal debt, lower carbon emissions, eliminate traffic snarls, make alternative energy more competitive, increase miles-per-gallon ratings of our cars and get us out of our SUVs and into hybrids, buses and car pools -- all with a simple gas tax.

Tax it up to $6 per gallon. It works for Germany, France and Britain who use half the oil we do. Better Uncle Sam gets it now than OPEC gets it later.

C.V. ALLEN

Modesto

Midwifery on decline

Editor -- Thank you for bringing much-needed attention to the shrinking midwifery options for women in San Francisco ("Fewer options for those who seek natural births," May 29).

I am expecting my second child any day and experienced hospital-based midwifery care with great success in both of my pregnancies. Realizing that this option may become even more scarce to women is just another discouraging sign of the failures of our medical system, which, in the case of obstetrics, seems to prioritize liability above all other matters.

I was particularly struck by the description of providing one-on-one midwifery support during labor as "boutique." Perhaps if this type of support -- which has been proven to reduce the need for interventions and surgery -- was the norm rather than the exception, more women would feel confident and less fearful of the birthing process.

As it stands, most women and their partners are left with minimal support until the very last stages of labor, which is inherently intimidating and frightening. One can't help but feel that it is time to seriously re-evaluate our expectations and treatment of the birthing process in order to bridge the "cultural gap" between midwives and physicians that Dr. Elaine Gates alludes to in her quote. Maintaining the status quo does not appear to be a productive option for anyone involved.

LENA BROOK

San Francisco

Decline of news

Editor -- Professor Neil Henry (Open Forum, "The decline of news," May 29) laments the loss of journalism jobs (and the loss of student-customers) due to changes in the information-dissemination business.

In my lifetime, I have witnessed the end of dozens of newspapers and magazines that succumbed to rising costs and loss of audience (The Hearst San Francisco Examiner, Life magazine, the Saturday Evening Post, etc.). Consolidation that enabled the survivors to flourish without meaningful conventional competition has stripped them of the ability to fend off robust, politically diverse new entrants favored by a changing audience.

Perhaps the good professor seeks to elevate spiritually a profession that has been unable to retain the audience it claims to serve right here on Earth.

Editor -- Cindy Sheehan is the
Paris Hilton
of the anti-war movement. She is pathetic, inarticulate and thoroughly unaware of her negative contribution to the American body politic. Her simplistic view of the world and incessant blaming of President Bush for everything wrong in the world is the anti-war left's vacuous equivalent to "it's hot."

MATT MITGUARD

San Francisco

Berkeley High's 'victory'

Editor -- What an extraordinary contrast on the Memorial Day editorial page. First, a small half-hearted editorial, "A day for memories," and then Louis Freedberg's rant on what a great victory the students at Berkeley High had in fighting the military (Personal Perspective, "Victory at Berkeley High").

Freedberg makes it seem as if Army recruiters are kidnapping students. The last time I heard, no one was being forced into the military. I think your typical high school student is more then able to say "no," if and when he or she is contacted by a recruiter.

Webster's Dictionary defines duty (military) as an obligatory task, conduct or service. A moral obligation. This obligation should be part of citizenship and growing up. It is unfortunate that many of the students at Berkeley High will never understand that.

JAMES VOLSTAD

Millbrae

Editor -- Thanks for a very well -written and thoughtful piece in Monday's Chronicle. The
Berkeley Board of Education
has been wrestling with this issue since early 2002, when I drafted our opt-in procedures.

As Freedberg accurately pointed out, this is not just a knee-jerk reaction against the occupation of Iraq and the military, but a fundamental issue of student privacy. The state education code is very explicit about the issue of student privacy, and the severe limitations on the release of student contact information to outside organizations and individuals.

Board member Nancy Riddle and myself attended assemblies at Berkeley High on May 21 to explain students' (and parent/guardian) legal right to "opt-out" of providing contact information to military recruiters. Forms were available at these assemblies, and will remain available for the remainder of the school year.